I wanted to get this off my chest while it is still fresh in my mind as I am currently out of the country for work. I took the time to create my first forum discussion because I wanted to express the unfavorable situation I experienced. However before I fully explain I want to note that, while not to my fullest satisfaction, the situation is somewhat resolved. Apologies in advanced for typos, grammar errors.

As a customer nobody can argue or persuade me, my position on T-Mobile is firm. I have no plans to leave, and I am comfortable with what T-Mobile has done during it's "Legere-era". Prior to Legere being apart of T-mobile, I always had a rocky, off-on relationship with T-Mobile. That being said, Since the Galaxy Note 3, I have re-joined T-mobile, and don't even think about other carriers. That is how impressed and satisfied I am with T-Mobile as a consumer.

So it's pretty disappointing, when I go through an experience that is not favorable only to have that disappointment encouraged further, when I reach a situation that has left me upset and those who are supposed to help only make it worse.

My Situation;

I attempted to take advantage of a T-Mobile BOGO deal in 2017, and through miscommunication and incorrect information, I was not able to take advantage of that promotion. In talking with T-mobile's Rebate department, I was once again misinformed and in the end, had to chase the situation up to management only to barely resolve the situation. It wasn't so much the situation itself but the journey to get to a somewhat satisfying result that truly bothered me enough to have me make something like this, be my first forum post.

What Happened;

Not to long after Samsung held their Unpacked event and unveiled the Galaxy Note 8, I put in a pre-order for the device as soon as T-mobile's pre-orders went live on the website. I purchased the device on EIP, it was a big upgrade for me, because I was still holding on to my Note Edge, I even spoiled myself with an S-View Case, the DeX Dock, and Samsung's new convertible wireless charger. Not too long after purchasing my Note 8, T-Mobile had a BOGO promotion. I am thankful T-mobile's website is extremely resourceful, because while it is expired, I was able to find it here. The promotion I sought after is listed at the very bottom. To make it even easier, I have attached a snapshot.

The 2017 Q3 Samsung Galaxy BOGO offer. The one thing I couldn't seem to find was if I qualified for the offer. My Note 8 order was placed on 8.24.2017 just days before the BOGO promotion. I tried to search more, but while I am not able to find the link to this on T-Mobile's site, I recall looking at the FAQ's of this specific BOGO offer and remembering that it had noted that early purchasers of the Note 8 on EIP do qualify for the promotion.

I was happy about this, and I went on ahead and proceeded with the order via my account on the website, I wanted to purchase a Galaxy S8 for my mother, who herself, was a T-Mobile Prepaid customer. I wanted to add her to my account as a new line and remove a financial responsibility from her life. When it came time to activate a line, The website wouldn't let me proceed any further without calling in to T-Mobile over the phone, or going in to a store.

So I called in to T-Mobile to further proceed with activating the line and purchasing the S8 on my account. When I got the chance to speak with the rep, I asked her, to be sure, if I qualified for the BOGO offer due to purchasing the Note 8 before September 1st. She took a moment to double-check, and then confirmed to me that even as an early purchaser I do qualify for the for BOGO offer. That was it, and I made the purchase, along with a case and car charger.

The rep explained to me that it would take 8 weeks before I got anything in regards to the BOGO offer, but after the sale was completed, we hung up.

Roughly 6 weeks in to waiting for the Pre-paid card, I was preparing to leave the country for a work-related trip and decided to put my laptop on a data only line. I visited a T-Mobile store that had just opened near my home to activate my laptop as I did not want to wait for the SIM card to be shipped. While in the store, I asked the rep helping me about the BOGO offer, his manager over heard my question and politely interrupted to explain that my BOGO offer, may not actually have been a pre-paid card that would be mailed, but rather, after 8 weeks, my account would simply be credited the $750. I thanked him for the information but didn't think much of it, and eventually left after my data line activation was completed.

Where things went sour;

It was well beyond 8 weeks, and I had no sign of the BOGO pre-paid card or credit on my account. I decided to give T-mobile a call to to find out the status. A customer service rep explained I would need to speak with the Rebate department. When I did, the rep I spoke with in that department seemed dismissive with me. To be honest, that was first time I had ever experienced a T-Mobile rep who I felt had no clear care or knowledge of my situation, putting it politely.

I explained to rep that I had yet to receive any account credit or prepaid card by mail, he couldn't find anything in the system that showed I had even followed the steps properly to get the pre-paid card or account credit. This is when I learned that the rep who performed the sale as per the Rebate Dept. rep; "Was supposed to walk me through filling out the rebate form online or educate me on filling out the form online". Prior to us speaking on the phone, I have should have remembered that aside from her call with me however.

Learning this information I was upset, but even more so the rep on the phone, did not make it any better, by giving me a sense that to him the call was over. I explained that although the rep truly did not educate me on that, I asked if something could be still be done, because I jumped at BOGO promotion on the guarantee that I qualified. He went on to further look in to my device purchases, and explained that he couldn't even find the Galaxy Note 8. his words to me, were, "all I see is a 'SAM GR-3-AT 64BG BLK", I recognized that from my order receipt and told, that is in fact the Note 8 but he was still unsure about it saying he had not heard of that device.

He placed me on hold for a bit, and eventually came back to the phone, at this point, he offered to credit my account $750.00 which is what the BOGO offer was for, and he explained that it would take 24 hours to process and that I "can use the credit for my device, or my bill". Satisfied, I ended the call and waited.

A whole billing cycle later, I still had seen nothing post to my account, and so I decided to call in to the Rebate department again to learn of the status. The rep I spoke with, placed me on hold to look over my account notes, and came back to the phone explaining that it looks like the rep I spoke with tried to post the "agreed upon" $400.00 to my account but it did not post. She started to say she will post it in my account, I stopped her to explain that we did not agree to $400.00 and she explained that she was seeing $400.00 in the account notes. I asked to speak with a Supervisor, which the supervisor, no different from the rep, kept up with what I felt were, mental gymnastics by constantly and directly/boldly saying "agreed upon $400.00" as if I would simply remember it as so.

I then explained to the Supervisor that $400.00 was not agreed upon and I asked for a copy of the transcript of the conversation or a copy of the audio recording of the conversation with the rep, mostly to make sure it wasn't a misunderstanding on my end. The Supervisor explained to me that the calls are only for "quality assurance" and not accessible to them nor to simply give away. For the record I worked at companies where calls were recorded and supervisors always had access to the recorded calls because they were usually the ones responsible for assuring the quality. If not, there was a specialized team that did go and playback calls, otherwise you would not be able to coach your reps on proper handling of situations over the phone.

When the supervisor seemed to not want to go any further and resolving my situation, she proceeded to explain that the $400.00 was a "kind gesture" and that not only did I apparently not qualify for the BOGO offer based on my Note 8 purchase date, but that my account, the Simple Choice Plan, was not eligible and too old to qualify, she explained that as Promotions expire, she can only go so far back to viewing promotions, and she could not find the BOGO Promo I am speaking of in regards to situation. Yet, I searched around on the T-Mobile website, and I found it and from experience with similar jobs I am sure the reps have access to the T-Mobile website.

I asked to speak with her manager. She placed me on hold, and her manager got on the phone with me, while the supervisor I spoke with remained on 3 way and listened in to the conversation. The manager repeated the situation as she was informed by the supervisor, I assume, back to me to make sure she understood my situation. What she repeated back to me was nowhere near what I explained to the Supervisor and previous rep. So I repeated myself to the manager. Only to have the manager check my account and say that she see's the EIP balance on my Note 8 is $540 and that she will credit my account that amount but could not do any more because I did not truly qualify for the offer.

Upset, I remember looking up at the ceiling and just saying "yes, that's fine!".

I always read online about T-Mobile customer service being awarded due to satisfactory performance, and I truly agree with it. Every time I hear about a new J.D. Power study praising T-Mobile's customer service in some way, I never hold doubt to it, because I truly believe its true from personal experiences I have had with T-Mobile reps. However, The Rebate Department must have never had to deal with a call from any person checking on the quality of the experience.

The first rep, couldn't find the phone model while appearing to be dismissive over the phone. The 2nd rep, though kind, seemed to take the notes of the last rep over my word and seemed disinterested to look any further (though I am not sure if she even spoke to that rep to hear his side of the story). The supervisor, to me, seemed to think of my situation as something she commonly gets and probably thought to herself, "oh this is easy" and seemed to declare the $400.00 offer from the first rep as fact! and the manager, my assumption, she just wanted to "get it over with" but did so as professionally as possible.

That is really where its most upsetting, because during all my interactions with the T-Mobile Rebate department, I personally felt as if I was speaking to a 3rd party, that did not represent T-Mobile. I can't entirely say, but that was the first and last time I hope to ever have to speak to them.

In regards to my situation, it does seem I was mis-informed, but.. more than once and I failed to fully pay attention to what I read on the website. I never purchased on a BOGO Promo before, so I'll take take this as carelessness on my part, shame on me. This was just an odd experience for me, which I did not like, and I wanted to share it in the hopes that someone from T-Mobile see's this and no one has to experience something like this again.

All replies

It looks like this is a game that Tmobile is playing everyone and not carelessness on your part.I am frustrated with Tmobile,i ordered a phone on 20th December 2017 on the bogo promotion.The representative said she had geting an error processing the free phone.I paid for overnight shipping for the other phone which was never delivered the next day.Since then it was a run around trying to get the "free phone".Finally on 12th January 2018, I asked to talk to a supervisor who processed the "free phone" and promised that I would get a rebate card within 4-8 weeks.My attempt get the rebate card on 10th February 2018 was met with,I do not qualify for rebate since the phones were not bought at the same time, I was on "carrier freedom" amongst other reasons that were not explained to me initially when I made the purchase both in December and January.I asked to return the "free phone" which was unopened and unused to which they also refused saying the 14days had passed.Tmobile, why are you frustrating your customers?Two months of run around and nothing is forthcoming????

Hey, hakai! Welcome to our Support Community, and thank you for taking the time to so clearly and articulately explain your experience and provide this thorough feedback. I am thrilled to read that you have no intention of leaving and that overall you're happy to be a customer -- because we're definitely happy to have you -- but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish it was a better experience you were reporting! I know that it sounds like there was ultimately some resolution provided here, but I can totally respect that it wasn't what you were anticipating, and the care you received leading up to this settlement offer didn't feel up to snuff to you. Reading about it, it's not the standard experience that I know we want to offer our customers, so although I wasn't with you on these calls I am definitely inclined to agree with your assessment. We want experiences working with our Rebate Care team to be just as enjoyable as those with Care, Tech, or T-Force. Our team does collect feedback and note trends from the Community to report back to our business leaders, and we'll definitely include this example. I know it doesn't change what's taken place here, but ideally we can use this feedback to recognize opportunities within the rebate system and improve the experience going forward.

jgithaiga, it sounds like the situation you found yourself in also leaves much to be desired! If I've got this right, it seems like you weren't able to order the second device or add a new line to qualify for the BOGO during the initial promotional window, but were advised that an exception would be made because of issues. Then it turned out after all that you'd also participated in the promotion to be reimbursed for the remaining balance on your equipment from your previous carrier, and it was then explained that this doesn't stack with the BOGO you participated in -- is that correct?

To be honest, I'm with you -- it sounds like a *lot* happened here and some additional clarification via account review couldn't hurt one bit. It sounds like you reached out to our Care team for assistance; but I'd like to recommend trying to work with the fine folks on our T-Force team, if you're up to it! They're our customer support team over social media, and you can contact them via DM on Twitter or Message on Facebook. They offer the advantage of being able to help out online; but with the added benefit of a secure platform for account verification -- so unlike our public user forum here, we can authenticate your account and get to the bottom of this once and for all. As I mentioned to the OP above, we will definitely be passing along this thread's feedback, but If there's any opportunity for escalation and a resolution for your specific situation, we want to make absolutely sure we're offering it!

Thank you tmo_marissa for the response. I am relieved to know that my situation will help T-Mobile going forward to continue bettering the consumer experience even further. As I mentioned, I do believe T-Mobile earned the rewards & recognition through their efforts, and care for their customers. Especially, by having helpful people such as yourself in the T-Mobile family. Thank You again.

jgithaiga Your situation is similar to mine. Especially in the form of how things were communicated to you. I hope your outcome is better than mine was.